Past Lives - Recap

The episode begins with the opening of the Tumbleweed Club. Savino and his men talk about Gainsley, who is a partner of theirs in the club and is set to get the lion’s share of the profits because Chicago is backing him. Dixon and Yvonne are out on a date and seem to be having a good time. At the DA’s office, Ralph sees a number of Savoy’s employees and is curious. Katherine tells him they are there because Burn wants to trap them for tax evasion, so he can get them to turn against Savino and become FBI informers. Ralph is unhappy that Burn is bothering the working folk just to trap Savino.

In his office, Burn is busy breaking the employees by threatening to charge them with tax evasion, for the undeclared income they earn in the form of tips. While on their date, Dixon sees a drunken man creating a nuisance on the streets and proceeds to arrest him. Ned, one of the men Burn had talked to earlier and who used to work as a craps dealer in the Savoy, is found dead in the swimming pool of his house by a neighbor of his. A bullet to the chest was the cause of death. At the Savoy, Harry, one of the employees of the casino, points a gun at Mia just as she is about to enter her office and asks that he be handed over $20K in cash.

After going into her office, Mia with a gun to her head calls the cashier and says she needs $20K sent to her office right away. At the Tumbleweed, Savino and Red are busy plotting Gainsley’s downfall. Savino plans to start by dealing with Gainsley’s lawyer. At the sheriff’s office, Ralph and Jack aren’t able to dig up much info on Ned, so Jack decides to have a talk with Mia to see if she can help. At the DA’s office, a woman employee of the Savoy arrives in tears and tells Ralph and Katherine that she is being investigated by the IRS. This is Burn’s doing but he refuses to call off the investigation unless the woman agrees to cooperate. The woman counters that she doesn’t have an important enough job to get the FBI any info.

On hearing this, Burn says he can’t help her. Katherine and Ralph later discuss the issue and she admits Burn is going a bit overboard with his investigation. After Jack arrives at Mia’s office to have a talk with her, he sees a man holding a gun to her head, who tells him to come in, hand over his handcuffs and close the door behind him. At the sheriff’s office, Burn hands Ralph a file with Ned Harris’ details in it. From the file, Ralph and Katherine learn that Ned and a partner of his used to own a clothing factory that burned down, killing one employee. The case never made it to court because Ned and his partner jumped bail. Katherine concludes that the family of the fire victim could have caught up with Ned. Ralph feels it could also be his partner, so they decide to once again talk to Ned’s neighbor, who found his body.

After persuading him to part with information, Gainsley’s lawyer reveals to Savino that Gainsley is nearly broke and the Tumbleweed is his last hope. At Mia’s office, they are all still waiting for the money to arrive. Mia tells an impatient Harry that they are short staffed, which is why it’s taking so long. On talking to neighbor Ralph and Katherine learn that her husband and Ned moved together to Las Vegas 10 years ago. She it turns out doesn’t know anything about her husband’s past from before he and Ned moved there. She tells them that he too works at the Savoy and is presently at work. The duo figures out that her husband is Arthur Hauser, Ned’s partner in the clothing business, who jumped bail with him.

At the Savoy, Jack notices Harry smoking a cigarette of the very same brand he had seen stubs of, in an ashtray in Ned’s house. Tony, the cashier, brings the money to the room. He sees Harry standing there with a gun in hand and is terrified. He tries to run, but Harry stops him and in the struggle, Tony ends up getting shot in the stomach. After Harry is done calling his wife and telling her where to meet him, he tells Jack and Mia that he didn’t mean to shoot Tony. Jack taunts Harry, saying just like he didn’t mean to shoot Ned. Jack has figured out that Harry is actually Arthur Hauser.

He realizes his game is up, so he confesses that he killed Ned because Ned was planning to tell everything to the FBI after the feds threatened to run his prints. Jack tries to talk Harry out of making matter worse for himself, saying he should let them go and hand himself over to the police. Ralph arrives at the Savoy looking for Harry, which is when a doctor arrives and says he got a call for a gunshot would from Mia’s office. Ralph arrives in her office with the doctor and sees Tony lying on the floor. Harry and his hostages aren’t there. While an injured Tony is being rushed to the ambulance, he tells Ralph where Harry is headed with his hostages.

After asking Savino to stay out of this, Ralph rushes to his vehicle. Harry arrives at the spot, where his wife is waiting for him. She asks him if he really killed Ned and he admits he did. She on hearing this refuses to go with him. Jack convinces Harry to just take him hostage and leave Mia behind, reasoning it would be easier for him to manage one hostage. Harry drives away with Jack, while Mia, who seems touched by Jack’s sacrifice, helplessly looks on. Ralph manages to catch up with Harry and crashes his pickup into Harry’s. The gun slips out of Harry’s hand and Jack immediately overpowers him. Mia is later relived to see that Jack is fine and kisses him.

At the sheriff’s office, Ralph notices Dixon is having relationship issues, so he gives him some advice. At the Tumbleweed, the FBI arrives to check on Gainsley’s books. This is Savino’s doing because he knows Gainsley has been breaking the law. He has been doing so by directing the money he was suppose to pay as a compensation for an accident that occurred in a mine he owns towards running the Tumbleweed. Dixon and Yvonne make amends, after he tells her that he isn’t going to give up on them this easily. Outside the Tumbleweed, Agent Burn is shot by the woman, whose IRS investigation, Burn refused to call off earlier. Katherine, who is with him, yells out for help. The episode ends at this point.